Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation of group work Activities in teaching speaking at Dr. Abdimajid Hussein College of Teacher Education in Jigjiga town. To answer this general objective, the assessment tried to find out whether and how group work is being conducted in first year Student Teachers’ speaking classroom. The participants of the study were ten purposively selected English language Teachers from English Department. In addition to, one hundred ninety six students of first year English language were randomly selected for the study. The data gathering instruments employed in the study were questionnaire, interviews and class room observation. The data obtained thorough the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed both quantitatively and qualitatively where as the data obtained from interviews and classroom observation were analyzed using qualitative method. Thus, the finding of the study reveals that there were challenges that hinder the effective implementation of group work in teaching Speaking. The major factors were lack of Classroom management, large number of students, and students’ lack of interest towards group work, teachers’ reluctance to guide and supervise the students during group work. Besides, students’ poor language communication among each other as well as teachers ‘lack of guidance when group work is in progress. And because of these challenges, the implementation of group work was unsuccessful. Finally, recommendations were made based on the findings like: improving learners’ speaking abilities, reviewing the Teaching method is important, giving training for teachers concerning group work in relation to speaking skills and exposing learners to use English language in their previous background education would help to improve the speaking abilities of learners and make the implementation of group work effective.
